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Proposal to sell Cumberland County’s nursing home should be eyed with caution, former commissioner says

Patriot-News - 11/9/2020

Cumberland County commissioners should be especially careful and heavily involve the public as they ponder selling the county’s nursing home, a former commissioner said Monday.

“For nearly two centuries (the home) has been an important resource for the Cumberland County citizens who need it,” Rick Rovegno said. “We should not take selling it likely.”

Rovegno’s comments follow the current board’s announcement that it has hired an advisory firm to vet potential buyers for the Claremont Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Middlesex Township.

All three of the current commissioners – Republicans Gary Eichelberger and Vince DiFilippo and Democrat Jean Foschi – have signed on for that examination. A sale could occur in early 2021, commissioners have said.

Foschi said selling Claremont – a step taken by other area counties with their nursing homes – is seen as a way “to ensure the long-term viability of Claremont, to continue to provide a high quality of care for our residents, and a positive work environment for our employees.”

Rovegno, a Democrat who served as a commissioner from 2000 through 2011, said he isn’t necessarily opposing a sale of the home, which can trace its lineage to the 1820s when it was founded as the county farm that gave the poor the opportunity to work for their room and board.

He said he believes the public must be fully informed of any sale proposal and be allowed to provide input and ideas. Rovegno stressed that providing nursing care for indigent countians is one of the legal responsibilities of the commissioners, whether it is done though a county-owned or a private facility.

Claremont, a 282-bed skilled nursing facility, performs that service now. Rovegno questioned whether after selling the facility the county would retain enough leverage to ensure the new owner kept fulfilling that role at the same level of care.

Rovegno, who said he placed his own now-deceased father in Claremont because he was impressed with the quality of care, conceded he has been out of the commissioners' information stream for years, and so doesn’t know whether current financial and other factors might make selling the facility the best option.

Still, he urged commissioners to “fully engage” the public in the process and tell countians “exactly what are the concerns.”

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